Orrick Public Policy Team Guides Effort to Legalize Sports Betting in Virginia


April.27.2020

With Orrick’s Public Policy Group playing a central role, Virginia enacted legislation on April 22 that paves the way for legalized sports betting in the state. The bill will open a new sports betting market, allowing consumers to place bets securely online while safeguarding the integrity of sports contests. The Orrick team was instrumental in passing this law on behalf of clients Major League Baseball, the NBA, and PGA TOUR, as well as leading sports entertainment platforms DraftKings and FanDuel.

With this law, Virginia joins three other states—Illinois, Michigan and Tennessee—that have enacted similar laws since 2019 to legalize safe, online sports wagering, which were also the result of the Orrick team’s advocacy. Virginia’s law will take effect on July 1, and betting is expected to go live before the end of the year.

The Orrick team was led by partners Scott Ward, Jeremy Kudon and Nicholas Green, and included Robert Williams and Erica Sechrist.